The Charge

The Case

Fewer media legends have made as big an impact as Bruce Lee. Even fewer have
made such a huge impact through so little work. Though Lee had family
connections to the Hong Kong Opera and was involved in movies from a young age,
his legacy in America—his enduring popularity as the face of martial arts
and kung fu movies—is founded on only five films made in two years, plus
his appearance as Kato on The Green
Hornet. Of course these five films look like an even greater achievement
than they are because for a long time the issue of international distribution
was a tangled one. Though Lee was undeniably popular in the 1970s, the lion's
share of his fame came post-mortem, and when Enter the Dragon was a huge hit,
distributors saw a means of cashing in. They released earlier films as
"sequels," often giving them new titles, thus almost hopelessly
confusing Lee's filmography. Luckily, the age of DVD straightened many of these
problems out (if you ignore gray and black market retailers) and all five of
Lee's major kung-fu flicks are available in various editions. With this release,
fans can own two of Lee's later films—The Way of the Dragon and
Game of Death—on a single release. It's perfect for the
budget-minded kung-fu fan.

The Way of the Dragon follows Bruce Lee to Rome, where he helps an
uncle resist the influence of the mafia on his restaurant. In Game of
Death, Bruce Lee is a rising star who won't be intimidated by a
syndicate-connected agent. When they threaten his life and his girlfriend, Lee
must defeat a series of foes.

If we're being honest, Bruce Lee was cut down in the prime of his life, with
Enter the Dragon as his only real masterpiece. That's not to take away
from his skills as a martial artist, or even as an actor/director. Rather,
saddled with low budgets and dodgy genre formulas, Lee was poised to break out
after Enter the Dragon, which perfected a certain kung-fu formula. Who
can say where he might have gone after that? Nobody knows, but both of these
films show where he was before his untimely death.

The Way of the Dragon spends its first third introducing us to Rome
and Lee's character. There's essentially no action during this part as the rest
of the film is set up. However, once the ball is rolling, it's basically action
scene following action scene for the next hour. Both pieces are interesting by
themselves, but they never feel entirely integrated. The non-action startup
makes fans wait too long for Lee to kick ass, while the action scenes follow
along so quickly after one another that there isn't much development of
character or plot once things pop off.

It's hard to call Game of Death a proper Bruce Lee movie. Almost two
hours of footage were completed before Lee died, but rather than abandoning the
footage, it was re-edited with fresh footage (featuring stand-ins) and the plot
completely changed. In a weird way the film prefigures later video games, as Lee
essentially has to fight boss after boss while progressing through a series of
"levels." The hokey nature of the re-editing and seventies-era
clichés make this film less interesting than it might have been had Lee
finished it himself.

Both films are included on a single disc in their original 2.35:1 aspect
ratios with anamorphic transfers. These were not big-budget features with high
production values, nor were the negatives given particularly great care once
they were completed, so the fact that these films don't look outstanding is not
a surprise. There's a bit of print damage and the image isn't always as stable
as I'd like. Detail seems to be affected a bit by the compression necessary to
fit both films on a single disc. With that said, these transfers are okay; both
features look filmlike, with good grain and nice color saturation. Audio options
include stereo and surround version of the dubbed English language tracks for
the film. They sound fine, though limited by the technology of the day. There
are no extras.

No matter how poorly some aspects of these films have aged, viewers can
count on Bruce Lee to bring the ruckus, and that's what this disc is all about.
No matter how ridiculous the plot, how flimsy the backdrop, or how ludicrous the
opponents, Bruce Lee is still Bruce Lee. He can move so fast the camera barely
seems to register it, and his physique is one of the most perfect ever captured
on film.

As a budget release for cash-strapped fans of Bruce Lee, this release of
The Way of the Dragon and Game of Death hits the spot. There are
almost certainly better releases of both films out there, but the low price and
convenience of this disc will no doubt tempt some fans. It's also a great way to
get into Lee's films for the neophyte. However, those with a serious interest in
Lee's filmography will want to seek out better presentations and more extras
than this disc offers.